Only Murders In The Buildings Showrunner Explains Why Season 5’s Latest Death Was A ‘No-Brainer,’ And I 100% Agree

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Warning: SPOILERS for the Only Murders in the Building episode “Tongue Tied” are ahead!

I’m completely hooked on Season 5 of *Only Murders in the Building*, and honestly, I was laughing out loud when L.E.S.T.R. – Paul Rudd’s robot character – met his end! In the episode “Tongue Tied,” someone from the Arcadia building tossed him right off! John Hoffman, the showrunner, said killing off L.E.S.T.R. was an easy decision, and I totally get why. It just *made sense* for the story, and it was brilliantly done.

Paul Rudd has now played three different characters on *Only Murders in the Building*: Ben Glenroy (in Seasons 2 and 3) and Glen Stubbins (in Season 4). Since two of his characters met untimely ends, the show’s creators decided to do the same to his latest character, L.E.S.T.R., as the showrunner explained to TVLine.

We had a clear idea of what to do with the robot halfway through the season: get rid of it dramatically – essentially killing it off again. Given our history with Paul Rudd and similar storylines, it felt like the obvious choice.

Unfortunately, the show *Only Murders in the Building* established a pattern, meaning the robot, L.E.S.T.R., had to be removed. It’s too bad it happened so soon after its introduction in the “Dirty Birds” episode – it was brought in to help with tasks like deliveries and reminders. While L.E.S.T.R. could have replaced the Arconia doorman, Randall (who took over after Lester Coluca) was protected by his union. By the time the “Tongue Tied” episode aired, though, both Randall and the rest of the staff really disliked the robot.

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The residents had increasingly preferred the robot to the human staff at the Arconia, so it wasn’t surprising things were tense. Oliver and Mabel organized a building meeting hoping to ease the friction while they investigated the murders of Lester and Nicky Caccimelio. Unfortunately, the meeting quickly fell apart, and during the resulting confusion, Miller, the garbage man, stole L.E.S.T.R. and threw it off the building.

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Howard, who cared for the robot L.E.S.T.R. and considered it a close companion after being repeatedly interrupted by his pets, was briefly upset when L.E.S.T.R. was destroyed. However, another robot was already being set up and linked to his email account. The biggest problem with L.E.S.T.R.’s destruction was that it held digital copies of important documents that Oliver, Mabel, and Charles needed for their investigation.

Perhaps the next robot in the L.E.S.T.R. series-hopefully still voiced by Paul Rudd-will have the missing files if they were saved online. At least something good came from L.E.S.T.R.’s destruction: Miller eventually gave our main characters a portrait of Lester Coluca made from the trash collected on the day he died, as they’d asked. This led them to an address where they unexpectedly saw Lorraine, Lester’s wife, meeting with Sofia, Nicky’s wife. We’ll find out what that meeting was about when the sixth episode of *Only Murders in the Building* Season 5 airs next Tuesday.

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2025-09-24 05:10